And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?—­Jonah iv. 11.

For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.—­1 Tim. v. 18.

Blessed are the merciful:  for they shall obtain mercy.  Matt. v. 7.

Behold the fowls of the air:  for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.—­Matt. vi. 26.

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?—­Luke xii. 6.

VOICES FOR THE SPEECHLESS.

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A prayer.

    Maker of earth and sea and sky,
      Creation’s sovereign, Lord and King,
    Who hung the starry worlds on high,
      And formed alike the sparrow’s wing: 
    Bless the dumb creatures of thy care,
    And listen to their voiceless prayer.

    For us they toil, for us they die,
      These humble creatures Thou hast made;
    How shall we dare their rights deny,
      On whom thy seal of love is laid? 
    Teach Thou our hearts to hear their plea,
    As Thou dost man’s in prayer to Thee!

Emily B. Lord.

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He prayeth best.

    O wedding guest! this soul hath been
      Alone on a wide, wide sea: 
    So lonely ’twas, that God himself
      Scarce seemed there to be.

    O sweeter than the marriage feast,
      ’Tis sweeter far to me,
    To walk together to the kirk
      With a goodly company!—­

    To walk together to the kirk,
      And all together pray,
    While each to his great Father bends,
    Old man, and babes, and loving friends,
      And youths and maidens gay!

    Farewell! farewell! but this I tell
      To thee, thou wedding guest! 
    He prayeth well, who loveth well
      Both man and bird and beast.

    He prayeth best, who loveth best
      All things both great and small;
    For the dear God who loveth us,
      He made and loveth all.

S. T. Coleridge.

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Our morality on trial.

Bishop Butler affirmed that it was on the simple fact of a creature being sentient, i.e. capable of pain and pleasure, that rests our responsibility to save it pain and give it pleasure.  There is no evading this obligation, then, as regards the lower animals, by the plea that they are not moral beings; it is our morality, not theirs, which is in question.

Miss F. P. Cobbe.

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